Novavax CEO reflects on COVID-19, company milestones, and his retirement

Novavax CEO Stanley Erck speaks with Yahoo Finance health care reporter Anjalee Khemlani at the 2023 JPMorgan Healthcare Conference about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the health care industry, his legacy at Novavax, and his impending retirement.

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DAVE BRIGGS: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live. Vaccine maker Novavax has announced that longtime chief executive Stanley Erck is stepping down from his position later this month. Before doing so, he joins us now with Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani at the 41st annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. Anj, nice to see you.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Nice to see you, too, as well, Dave, and of course, with me is the man himself, Stanley Erck, CEO of Novavax, for just a little bit longer, who has seen the company through quite an adventure through this pandemic. So, Stan, let's start off there. Really an interesting experience with Novavax in the last just two years alone. Talk to us about that. What has that been like for you?

STANLEY ERCK: So I think I mentioned to you that today is actually the third anniversary of when the gene sequence for COVID-19 was unveiled on the internet. And we and others started right then, that day, shifting our efforts from what was a flu trial, a phase III pivotal trial, over to COVID. And we had fewer than 100 people. We had less than $100 million. We had enough money to get through the next five months. And we were focused on the flu.

Since then, we've gotten the COVID vaccine, which I believe is the best in class vaccine because of its efficacy, its safety, its stability. We've done that in this three-year period. And now, the last year, we've gotten approved around the world, 47 different countries, all in the last 12 months. We're now over 2,000 people. We have over a billion dollars in the bank. We have funding for to take it through commercialization. We are now a commercial company for the first time. We had $2 billion in revenue in 2022 for the first year. And that's pretty significant--

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Not bad.

STANLEY ERCK: --for the first year of commercial operation. And now we've got growth in the commercial operation that's going to take us to pass the pandemic stage, past the stage when we're selling product just to governments, until we get into the retail world until the pharmacies.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Absolutely, and let's talk about that because, clearly, your market has been to date ex-US, right? That's been--

STANLEY ERCK: Right.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: --just how the trajectory played out during the pandemic. Talk to me about what that means for the company now, how much more of a struggle it's going to be for the inroads that need to be made in order for the US market to recognize Novavax.

STANLEY ERCK: Yeah, so the US has been last to come around and recognize that-- to get the product licensed, to get it approved. And so we're just now there. We have to work with the FDA to expand the label so that we have it for all age groups and all boosted. But we're doing that. And so we'll get it done. It's too bad that it was the last country to do that, but nevertheless, that's behind us. And so we have a commercial organization that is, as we speak, educating the pharmacies of the US on what this is. And so what we expect is that by the second half of this year, when we start looking at a fall vaccination, just like for flu, a fall vaccination for COVID or respiratory disease, we'll be ready and be able to commercialize it as a normal vaccine.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: For the company moving forward, you now have a commercial product, someone new coming in to take the reins. What's plans for Stan?

STANLEY ERCK: Well, I haven't had time to plan for Stan. So Stan doesn't have a plan yet.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Stan doesn't have a plan, all right. Well, hopefully we'll see you back out there. You've had clearly a long history in the space. This is your, what, 30th year at JPM?

STANLEY ERCK: Yeah.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: How would you rate this one versus the previous one?

STANLEY ERCK: Well, it's a bit quieter. It's a sleepier JPMorgan than I'm used to, but that's-- in some ways, that's good. So I get to see people, old friends, and so.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: It's good. Great. Well, Stan, best of luck in everything that you do, and hopefully we'll see you around.

STANLEY ERCK: You will. Thank you.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Stanley Erck, CEO of Novavax, back to you guys.

SEANA SMITH: All right, thanks so much, Anj, and of course, our thanks to Stanley as well.